In 2004, Kan Mei Chan was awarded a bronze medal in The Jersey Journal Hudson County Science Fair. Born in Manhattan, Chan moved to Jersey City with her family when she was 3 years old.

She attended School 27 and Dickinson High School in Jersey City before attaining a pre-med degree at Rutgers University.

She began her studies at the Caribbean Medical School in Curacao about a 1 1/2 years ago, family members said today.

Chan, who lived on Nelson Avenue, was stabbed to death by fellow student Moustapha Khalesi, 20, of Dubai,.in a dorm Friday, officials said.

She was to return home this week to Jersey City where her family runs a Chinese restaurant in the Heights.

"She was always kind-hearted and wanted to help people and I think that is a reason she wanted to be a doctor," said Chan's brother, Willy Chan, 21, at the family home today.

Chan said his family did not learn of the killing until Sunday and they are struggling to understand what happened but information has been slow coming. He said when family members called the embassy in South America on Sunday officials said they had not yet been notified of the death.

Radek Lewkowski, a director at the university, said he tried to contact the family as early as midnight Friday and left a message, but two hours after that police told him they would handle it. Even so, on Sunday morning Lewkowski called the family again and found they still had not been informed, the director said in a phone call from Chicago today.

Lewkowski said that a month ago Khalesi had transferred from a school in Egypt in order to escape unrest in that country.

On the night of the killing Khalesi had locked himself out of a dorm room and began arguing with a professor, Dr. Farrah Syed, Lewkowski said.

Students heard the screaming from outside and ran to the area. Kan Mei Chan got their first and Khalesi allegedly stabbed her to death, Lewkowski said, adding that the teacher also suffered stab wounds.

Fellow student were going to put Kan Mei Chan in a car and race her to the hospital but she was already dead, Lewkowski said.

Khalesi has been arrested and is in custody, said Lewkowski, adding that he did not know what charges were filed against him.

"She was a very, very, nice girl," Lewkowski said.

Willy Chan said his father, Fat Chow Chan, and his sister, Kim Lee, were flying to South America today to arrange to bring Kan Mei Chan's body home.

Kan Mei Chan's cousin, Susie Kwok, said the student called her mother at the restaurant every day at opening time and closing time. Kwok said the mother, Po Ping Lee, got her daughter's 11 a.m. call on Friday and never heard from her again.

"We had plans of going out because she studied so hard there," Kwok said while sitting on the porch of the Nelson Avenue residence yesterday and recalling the plans to celebrate her cousin's graduation. "My last Skype with her, I just said 'I want you to know you are my best friend' and she laughed. I said 'No... really.'"